Rumors around Facebook’s Jan. 15 ‘mystery announcement’

Facebook is holding a mysterious media event on Jan. 15 at its Menlo Park, Calif., headquarters to make a big announcement. The invite simply said, “Come and see what we’re building.”

Naturally, rumors are flying on what the mystery announcement could be. In April 2011 Facebook teased a big announcement, and the main speculation was that the site would be building a service to compete with Groupon. Instead, Facebook underwhelmed many by announcing it had built energy-efficient data storage servers in Oregon.

The last media gathering the site hosted announced a slew of new retail partners for its Gifts app.

This time around, people are once again coming up with wild ideas. We’ve rounded up some of the Internet’s guesses, both serious and absurd, for what the announcement might be.
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Forbes is guessing that HTC is working on a Facebook-friendly phone that will “take social media integration to a whole other level.” HTC’s last attempt at a smartphone with a Facebook button, however, proved to be unpopular.

Forbes also speculated that Facebook might be announcing an integration with automobiles, as the announcement happens to coincide with the North American International Auto Show.
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Last August, Mark Zuckerberg announced that Guggenheim Museum architect Frank Gehry would design a 3,400-employee engineering office connected to the main headquarters by underground tunnel, TechCrunch reported.

We’re hoping this is the one that comes true: One website guessed (albeit not so seriously) that Mark Zuckerberg is going to admit he stole the idea for Facebook from the Winklevoss twins (pictured, looking normal.)
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